the luddite club

Not ready to switch?

Keep the phone, lose the pull

Most of what a dumbphone gives you, you can get from the phone in your pocket. Nine steps, free ones first.

  1. 01

    Delete the apps

    Free

    Not moved to a folder. Deleted. If you still need an account, use it in the browser, where it's slower and logs you out. That friction is the feature. A service you "can't leave" usually becomes one you check twice a week once it takes eight taps to reach.

    Fixes
    The reflex open. The feed in your pocket.
    Doesn't
    The browser is still right there, and so is email.
  2. 02

    Turn off almost every notification

    Free

    Turn everything off, then turn back on only what a person would tap you on the shoulder for: calls, texts from humans, maybe the calendar. Add a Focus or Do Not Disturb schedule for evenings and work hours, favorites allowed through.

    Fixes
    Being interrupted. The pull of the lock screen.
    Doesn't
    Self-interruption, which is most of it.
  3. 03

    Empty the home screen and go gray

    Free

    One home screen, nothing on it but Phone and Messages. Everything else lives in search. Then turn on the grayscale filter in accessibility settings; on an iPhone, tie it to a triple-click of the side button. It's remarkable how much of the pull was color.

    Fixes
    Grazing. Opening things because they were there.
    Doesn't
    Anything you go looking for on purpose.
  4. 04

    Swap the launcher

    Free to about $25

    A minimalist launcher replaces the icon grid with a short text list of the apps you chose. Olauncher (free, open source) or Niagara on Android. On iPhone, which can't swap launchers, Blank Spaces or Dumbify fake it with a widget.

    Fixes
    The icon grid and its little red badges.
    Doesn't
    Nothing is blocked. It only stops being advertised to you.
  5. 05

    Add friction, or a wall

    Free to about $100 a year

    Two flavors. The friction kind makes you pause or breathe before an app opens: one sec, Clearspace. A ten-second pause changes your mind more often than you'd think. The wall kind blocks on a schedule or a budget: ScreenZen (free), Freedom (every device), Opal and Jomo (strict modes you can't talk yourself out of).

    Fixes
    The evening scroll. The "just checking" that becomes forty minutes.
    Doesn't
    You set the rules, so you can unset them. Some people need the next rung.
  6. 06

    Make the off switch physical

    $59 once, or about $30 a quarter

    Brick is a magnetic square you tap your phone against to block the apps you chose, and tap again to unblock. Leave it on the kitchen shelf and the block holds on the train and in bed. $59, no subscription, one works for the household. Unpluq is the same idea as a keychain tag, with a subscription from about $30 a quarter.

    Fixes
    The rules you keep breaking. Willpower, mostly.
    Doesn't
    You can still carry the brick with you. Don't.
  7. 07

    Give it a place to live

    Free to about $60

    A bowl by the door where the phone goes when you walk in, like keys. A faraday bag if you want it properly unreachable: Mission Darkness makes one for about $23 that blocks everything. For the stubborn, a kSafe is a clear box with a timer lock and no override, about $59.

    Fixes
    Dinner. The first hour home. The phone as a fidget.
    Doesn't
    You have to actually walk it to the bowl.
  8. 08

    Sleep without it

    About $10 for an alarm clock

    The phone charges outside the bedroom. A ten-dollar clock replaces the alarm. This is the change with the most consistent evidence behind it and the one people resist most, which tells you something. Give it two weeks.

    Fixes
    Bedtime scrolling. Morning scrolling. Sleep, according to most of the studies.
    Doesn't
    Nothing about the daytime.
  9. 09

    Try a halfway phone

    $20 and up

    A second, dumber phone with its own number for weekends or workdays. The dumb.co Dumbphone 2 is $20 plus a plan and forwards your calls, the cheapest possible experiment. A cellular Apple Watch can be the whole phone for a day out. Some people stop here, and that's most of the benefit.

    Fixes
    Weekends. Vacations. The question of whether you could actually do it.
    Doesn't
    Two devices to charge. The smart one is still in the drawer, calling to you.

and if you've done all of that

Still want out?

The database has everything from a $20 flip to a $700 minimalist flagship, trade-offs written down.

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